NEW ORLEANS — As the shot clock winded down, Jalen Williams swished in a deep top-of-the-key 3-pointer to flatten out any faint hopes of a comeback for New Orleans. The massive outside shot pushed OKC’s lead to 11 points with three minutes left.
The Oklahoma City Thunder completed the first-round series sweep with a 97-89 Game 4 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. It’s OKC’s first playoff series win since 2016.
“The defense kinda stabilized us all night,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said on their series-clinching win. “The game never got away from us despite struggles offensively… They tested our conviction in the gameplan and the guys just stuck with it and really executed down the stretch. Did a great job on both ends.”
Much like most of the series, it was a low-scoring affair for the opening portion of the contests. Both teams exited the first quarter tied at 21 apiece. The Thunder’s 23-point second frame gave them a slight 44-43 edge at halftime. Both squads struggled to score in a defensive-heavy opening two quarters.
That continued through the halftime break and in the second half. Both teams exchanged baskets in the third frame as OKC entered the fourth quarter with a small 71-70 deficit. The Pelicans pushed their lead to five points a little over eight minutes left in the frame.
It felt like the Pelicans were on their way to forcing a Game 5 as the active New Orleans crowd loudly cheered to give the home squad extra momentum. Instead, the Thunder kept their composure and went on a decisive 18-2 run to hold a 93-82 lead with three minutes left capped off by Williams’ last-second 3-pointer.
The final three minutes were drama-free as the Pelicans crowd filed out for their season’s last game. In total, the Thunder outscored the Pelicans in the fourth quarter, 27-18. A back-and-forth contest that saw 19 lead changes and 18 ties finished with OKC completing the sweep.
The Thunder shot 43% from the field and went 12-of-40 (30%) from 3. They went 15-of-24 from the free-throw line. They had 18 assists on 35 baskets. All five Thunder starters scored double-digit points.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 24 points on 21 shots. Williams had 24 points and eight rebounds. Chet Holmgren totaled 14 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Josh Giddey scored 14 points and went 4-of-6 from 3.
“I thought defensively, we started getting stops,” Giddey said on their fourth quarter. “We made them take tough shots and they were not hitting them. We were getting out in transition and getting what we wanted… Once a guy starts seeing the ball go through the hoop a couple of times, they start to build confidence. It is contagious for the whole team.”
Meanwhile, the Pelicans failed to reach 90 points once again. It wrapped up an offensive-ugly series for New Orleans, who averaged 89 points on 40% shooting in four contests. Zion Williamson’s absence ultimately was the death blow to its postseason aspirations.
In their Game 4 loss, the Pelicans shot 38% from the field and went 8-of-34 (23.5%) from 3. They went 17-of-20 from the free-throw line. They had 22 assists on 32 baskets. 19 turnovers resulted in 20 points for OKC. Four Pelicans players scored double-digit points.
Brandon Ingram was made into a nonfactor this entire series thanks to fantastic perimeter defense by the Thunder. He finished with eight points on 2-of-14 shooting and six assists. He was limited to 14.3 points on 34.5% shooting in the series.
CJ McCollum had 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting. Jonas Valanciunas had 19 points and 13 rebounds. Trey Murphy III had seven points on 3-of-10 shooting. Naji Marshall had 16 points and went 4-of-7 from 3.
“I thought they cranked it up, they tried to play faster tonight,” Daigneault said on the Pelicans. “I thought they tried to go to different things offensively to try to crack us and the guys just hung in there… The defense allowed us to have a chance to win these games.”
Eerily similar to Game 1, the Thunder survived their offensive limitations by matching the Pelicans with their defensive effort. In the fourth quarter, Williams and Giddey made massive shots to push OKC past New Orleans, who couldn’t counter with its shot-making abilities.
The Thunder now advance and will enjoy another lengthy break. They will get a chance to rest up as the LA Clippers and Dallas Mavericks fight it out to match up against OKC in the second round. The Thunder made history by being the youngest squad to win a playoff series in league history.
“I was curious to see what version of ourselves we bring into the series and we were very much in character,” Daigneault said on their first playoff series win as a core. “Credit to them and then credit to everybody in the organization that’s worked hard not only this season but in the last few years during this build.”
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: B
Slamming the brakes, Gilgeous-Alexander created enough space off Murphy III to hit the turnaround jumper to push OKC’s lead to 10 points with a minute left. The shot served as the exclamation mark of a road win.
In 40 minutes, Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 24 points on 8-of-21 shooting, 10 rebounds and three assists. He went 1-of-4 from 3 and an uncharacteristic 7-of-13 from the free-throw line.
On the final play of the first quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander landed on his teammate and looked to have tweaked his ankle. He immediately grimaced in pain and was looked at on the bench and used a resistance band when he was off the floor.
He returned to the contest and gave a grueling 40-minute performance to help the Thunder complete the sweep. But once he returned, it was evident the ankle injury hobbled him. He settled for contested jumpers and couldn’t create space on his drives.
Gilgeous-Alexander toughed out a couple of timely baskets in the fourth quarter. A soaring layup gave the Thunder a three-point lead with six minutes left. The go-ahead bucket gave OKC a lead it wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the way. His turnaround basket in the final minute was enough to make up for a subpar shooting performance.
With OKC off for the foreseeable future, he’ll have plenty of time to heal the ailment. The Thunder will need their MVP candidate to return to his highly efficient 30-point outings if they want to advance past the second round.
“If you take a step back, it’s very hard to beat an NBA team four times in a row. You have to do
a lot of things right for a lot of possessions to get one W,” Gilgeous-Alexander said on the series win. “Our group of guys you can say are young. We don’t have the most experience in winning basketball games. To figure it out and stick with it is very impressive.”
Jalen Williams: A-plus
Heading into the final frame in a one-point deficit, the Thunder needed Williams to deliver another signature fourth-quarter takeover. Playing in a hostile road environment, that’s exactly what the 23-year-old did.
In 38 minutes, Williams finished with 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting, eight rebounds and four assists. He shot 2-of-6 from 3 and went 4-of-6 from the free-throw line.
With Gilgeous-Alexander limited, Williams had a monster nine-point second quarter to keep the Thunder in the contest. The 23-year-old has been OKC’s second-best scorer. He provided it with elite shot-making moments down the stretch that New Orleans lacked all series due to OKC’s soul-crushing defense.
“In the playoffs, playing defense is important,” Williams said. “That’s where we’re going to hang our hat on. Offense is so, I don’t want to say hit or miss, but you can have games where you don’t shoot well. With defense, there are a lot of instances and controllables that you can impact the game with.
The second-year wing’s final frame featured 11 points scored in a variety of ways — A driving finger-roll layup, a pair of deep pull-up 3-pointers and converting his free throws to ice out the game. It was another classic closeout job by Williams that’s happened all season.
Josh Giddey: A
As the Pelicans created a five-point lead, Giddey nailed a much-needed left-corner 3-pointer to stall their run in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. He nailed another 3-pointer a couple of minutes later on the right-corner spot to tie the contest at 80 apiece.
The pair of massive outside shots highlighted a monster fourth quarter by Giddey, who aided Williams in closing out this series. In 29 minutes, he totaled 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting and three rebounds. He shot 4-of-6 from 3.
Opposing defenses have dared Giddey all season to beat them from outside and in one of the biggest games of the season, the Pelicans lost that bet. The 21-year-old scored nine points — all on 3-pointers — in the fourth quarter to close the road win.
“This is the time of the year you want to start hitting your stride,” Giddey said. “You want to be sharp. I think this series guys were unbelievably sharp.”
Giddey finished his first-round series being mostly a positive for the Thunder. In New Orleans, he had his best two games against the Pelicans. The third-year guard has historically stepped up in Smoothie King Center.
“I was talking to Chet about this, there’s just some arenas you feel good in,” Giddey said. “This is probably one of them for me.”
Chet Holmgren: B
As Herb Jones drove to the basket, Holmgren’s presence forced the forward to put up an awkward missed floater. Soon after, Valanciunas tried to bully his way to the basket in a post-up but ultimately had to pass out.
The two-play sample exemplifies what makes Holmgren one of the best paint protectors in the league. Not only does he usually dominate one-on-one matchups at the rim, but his mere existence also plants doubts in the minds of opposing players.
In 35 minutes, Holmgren finished with 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting, nine rebounds and five assists. He shot 1-of-7 from 3 and went 3-of-4 from the free-throw line.
Throughout the series, Holmgren thoroughly won his matchups against Valanciunas. The large big man was borderline unplayable for most of the four games. The 21-year-old rookie stepped up his play in his playoff series debut and was one of the biggest reasons they completed the sweep.
